Wednesday, September 30, 2015

September's Farewell Tour






On once-upon-a-time’s green hills
She lays an umber shroud

She wanders through bloom-spangled rills
And cross-hatches faint cloud

She climbs through gates, splays shadow-mates
On canvases of grass

With cinnamon and garnet shades
She gilds leafed overpass

She lingers in the tangled nook
Of sweet vermilion streams

She tarries where summer forsook
The brook where drifters dream

She dawdles in the purple dell
And decorates earth’s halls

With remnants of a fairer shell
That fell from summer’s walls

She touches orchards with a frond
Dipped in nature’s best red

She shushes thread-bare vagabonds
And tucks them into bed

Soft-slow she gathers up her gown
A strange, majestic train


Of leaf-shaped echoes drifting down
To we who yet remain

© Janet Martin

September's Farewell Song...





I’m not going so far away, really
Eleven months distance by train, foot or plane
Or one step backward from here, but my darling
One step back cannot restore moments again

I hear a near voice calling, calling, calling
And I must go. Though I know I would stay
If granted permission but, oh my darling
No one can barter with Time’s chartered prey

I leave you the hill slowly spilling its ardor
I leave you the tree turning crimson and gold
And in every ditch, hollow, hummock and arbor
I leave more beauty than words can quite hold

All the love poems can’t spell farewell’s feeling
Darling, departure tugs heaven’s heartstrings
And in a way it seems we are ever dealing
With the letting go that love’s holding on brings

Don’t be too sad love, tears are temporary
And years return much in their full-circle chase
So I leave you in good hands, darling Darling
October is waiting to take my place

© Janet Martin

Love's Sense of Humour



 I often find myself using the first two lines in this song;
"I don't mind the thought of growing old,
I just don't want to lose my sense of humor"
(because He's and She's seem to retain ageless quirks and quaint idiosyncrasies;-))

This bowing and curtsying cuddle and fuss
First started by He and She and Her and Him
Vexes, befuddles and oh, muddles us
Perplexing word’s wittiest acronym

These Habits of Him and These Fancies of Her
Startles the finest of Mr. and Miss
Time's silly, common strangeness of humor
Is sometimes a sucker-punch, sometimes a kiss

Kindly distract Her, kind sir, with your laughter
Blindly attract Him, dear Her with your smile
Time forgets days; twixt its before and after
Starry-eyed dreamers and Life reconcile

…teaching the reach of touch-greedy young lovers
Of He and She, Him and Her, Ma’am and Sir
Since Time’s beginning how yet to recover
From love’s sense of humor birthed by Him and Her

© Janet Martin





September's Farewell Note



I rose this morning to witness the dawning
Of September’s farewell regaled
With wishes and kisses, but all that I found
Was a freight-train of flowers derailed

© Janet Martin

The Blue of Time's Candor



(click on images to enlarge)

The blue of Time’s candor, like moody fall splendor
Sweeps in from without yet seeps out from within
It courts hurried hours and flings wide-eyed flowers
Into bygone’s bowers of gossamer skin

The blue of Time’s candor compels us to wander
Where summer-set settles, three seasons away
Each leaf, like a pencil, each stem like a poised quill
Spills sun-tattered verses of death and decay

The blue of time’s candor rolls through gated pasture
Its waves washing heart-ward with echo and whim
An ethereal ocean rises in slow-motion
It ravages laughter and landscape and limb

Time’s blue traipses over rose-rivers of clover
It unravels rainbows; blue will have its way
As sun-warm reflection dons cooler complexion
And blue of time’s candor turns gold silver-gray

© Janet Martin